...Because it’s hard to find good intel out here in these Google streets. This presents an urgent problem because I think hair thinning is happening to me. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, for your consideration: My hair has always been naturally thin yet curly, I am borderline anemic (apparently relevant when it comes to this subject), and thinning seems to run in my family. But more pressing is that the hair around my temples started to look, I don’t know...less full...shortly after I graduated college. Slowly, my hair looked flatter and flatter, only to be eclipsed by an even more horrifying observation: My scalp was getting a lot more exposure, if you know what I mean. The width of my side part seemed to widen like a belt buckle after too many too many trips to Taco Bell for their award-winning gordita.

In what I can only conclude was a hit job to my vanity, this invasive scalp cleavage is taking place while I continue my lifelong pursuit of over-the-top skincare. Never met a serum, essence, chemical peel, or mud mask that didn’t feel like an immediate and necessary life addition. It never occurred to me to put that same energy into hair care, but here I am—January, 2019—with a resolution to do just that.

Here’s the pitch: I want to be kind to my hair! And hopefully, it’ll be kind to my vanity in return. In my book this means less quick comb detangling and more laborious finger-detangling. And I want to take scalp health more seriously—I think. (Is the emerging scalp health category 2019’s version of 2014's Great Coconut Oil Hysteria? Don’t know yet! But you can take it to the bank that I’m going to find out.)

So, what's on deck? Maybe I’ll get more into the more medical solutions, like Minoxidil, the only FDA-approved ingredient for women’s hair loss, found in treatment systems like Keranique and...you’re going to make me say it, aren’t you? Fine, Rogaine [typed with a air of a defeatist sigh].

Other things I’m willing to consider:
- Protective hairstyles
- Wrapping my hair before going to bed (haven’t done this since college; too much work)
- Lasers
- Diet change
- Castor oil
- Kidding about diet change. Taco Bell 4 lyfe.

What I’m not willing to consider:
- Supplements (they make me queasy—literally)

And then I’ll keep you all posted on the triumphs and fails on the site you happen to be reading right now. Buckle up. Things are hopefully about to get pretty hairy.

—Ashley Weatherford

Photo via ITG